Political parties should cooperate in the investigation'

Dr. Amena Mohsin, Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, talks to A.B.M. Shamsud Doza and Zaheen Zaema Khan of The Daily Star on recent communal violence in Ramu, Cox's Bazaar.

The Daily Star (TDS): How do you look at the recent attack on Buddhist community in Ramu?
Amena Mohsin (AM): It is not an isolated incident, rather it falls within a wider canvas where one is observing growing intolerance at the global and state level, and also at the local level, towards different cultures and different religions. So, it is not something which is unique to this country. One has observed the kind of backlash that has occurred among the Muslim communities due to posting of a Youtube documentary titled "Innocence of Muslims." I do not support the kind of violence that has taken place but at the same time I also do not think that freedom means irresponsibility or disrespect to another culture or another religion. Islam is not only about a religion, it is also about an identity, and one can't separate religion from politics. People talk about freedom of speech but any kind of right does not come without a kind of responsibility and duty. If you want a right that does not entail any responsibility or duty then that is an irresponsible act.

Secondly, violence is not the answer to violence, rather there should be more research on these areas. There should be more responsible response from the Muslim community as well. Just by breaking things you add to the Western theory that Muslims are a violent people. But the West has also failed in some ways because I think when you post something on Facebook or you make a film like that, that is also a kind of violence. It is psychological violence. Just by attacking someone violently you don't become violent, you also become abusive and violent when you damage someone psychologically or hurt someone's sentiment. Western leaders should have been more cautious and critical of this. There should have been a general condemnation of this at the UN.

One should seriously rethink the notion of freedom of speech. What does it entail? Does one have the freedom to say just anything in the world? Rights also talk about the dignity of individuals and cultures. If we divide the rights regime there are three generations, the third generation talks about dignity and respect. That should be counted in. So, when one says that if I stop things like that it will be violating someone's freedom one must also keep in perspective someone's right and that right also entails dignity.

I strongly condemn what has happened in Ramu. It should not have happened. There are allegations that the Rohingyas have done it, and the home minister said that it was premeditated. My question is, what were intelligence agencies doing? It means that there was a total failure on the part of the state. The police official said that he had only ten to twelve men at his disposal. Why so few? That is the big question to ask.

It is understandable that for sensitive areas you would have more security enforcement like in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The government keeps on saying that the army needs to be deployed there because it is a security and politically sensitive area. So, why wasn't there a deployment of more security forces in these areas? It is all the more necessary because Cox's Bazaar is a tourist area, and for the security of tourists and the minorities there should have been more deployment of security personnel over there. So, it's a failure of the state, and unless proper investigation is carried out it can't be said who has done it.

The blame game played by both the government and the opposition is sickening. They are trying to divert attention. Now, that is becoming a major issue for the political parties and the government, and not what has happened. It is like stealing the thunder out of the storm. The point is that it is a national issue and the major political parties should cooperate with each other regarding the investigation. They should condemn the violence instead of pointing fingers at each other. People somehow become the object in it and not the subject. And what becomes clear over here is the sick politics of this country, not the damage which has been done. This was not expected either of the government or of the opposition. One would have expected more restraint and more responsible comments, particularly from the home minister.

TDS: What do you think about the claim of "pre-mediated attack?"
AM: The way things happened it looks like it was pre-meditated. Having said that, I am not ready to point fingers at anyone until proper investigation has been carried out. If pictures of local Awami League leaders in a procession have been published then one needs to first verify whether it is something the government is doing to malign the opposition or whether the opposition was involved.
One is seeing one incident after another in this country. For instance, we had the Yunus fiasco then the Padma issue and now this. It is the last thing we needed, and is like the last straw on the camel's back. We are not projecting a good image of our country to the world. I believe that all the people are peace-loving, like the Hindu community is peace-loving and the Muslims are also peace-loving. So, I would not categorise one community as peace-loving and another as a violent community. I will not go into this politics of labeling. People in general are peace-loving. The politicians use them for various political purposes, and we have seen that the Rohingyas have been used in the past for violence.

People just do not go out and become violent unless there are sufficient reasons for them to become so. Definitely, there have been some provocations from some end. Proper investigation needs to be conducted. Some people are blaming RSO type organisations. Even if they are linked, that does not mean that Rohingyas are there because RSO is not the whole Rohingya people. Al-Qaeda does not represent all Muslims, it is a particular minority group. If any organisation is involved let us investigate the issue very seriously and take stern action against them, but we have to draw the line between refugees and perpetrators. I am skeptical that there can be a tough stand on refugee issue. If that happens, it will be unfortunate, because then we will be nurturing a culture of violence and intolerance.

I want to make it very clear that it is a national issue. In the 2001 election we saw that there was violence against the Hindu minorities in different districts, so even the timing is something that strikes me. Why at this particular point in time? It is very convenient for the government to say that the opposition is doing it and that the Jamaat-e-Islami is involved. It is also a time when everything is being blamed on the opposition, saying that they want to divert attention and do not want the trial of the war criminals. Again I would like to point out that the trial of the war criminals is a national issue and not a party issue. We all want not just justice but fair justice. We can't have a culture of impunity, so I would like to make it very clear and put it on record that there should be fair investigation and there should be no impunity.

TDS: Recently we also saw violence against minorities in Assam and Rakhine. Do you find any link among these events?
AM: I don't see this as an isolated event. I am not saying that there is a direct linkage between the two. All I am saying is that we are moving towards a system which is breeding a culture of intolerance. You see violence at the political, communitarian, religious, and global levels. It is an age when we are losing our basic values and it is also an age of competition, of rising expectations; and rising expectations have positive as well as negative sides. The positive side is that you become competitive but being competitive has its negative side also. You have to know where to stop and how to rein it in, and for that you need a kind of political system that knows how to behave. I think we lack the political system also.

TDS: Can we get rid of these menaces?
AM: Yes, definitely. We have a lot to do, not only at the regional level but also at the national level. We should check these issues. In the first instance, we did not act very responsibly regarding the Rohingya issue. We should have accepted the Rohingyas and then taken the matter to the OIC, UNHCR and the United Nations because after all we are also a nation that has gone through a struggle for freedom, and refugee status was part of it. We were refugees in India. So, one needs to keep that in perspective. At some point in time realism doesn't really work, humanism takes precedence over realism. Bangladesh should have been more humane. In Saarc, we have charters that deal with these issues but the question is giving teeth to these charters. At the international level we should have talked about communalism as a serious issue rather than bashing the opposition. Civil society can play a strong role in this respect, but we are yet to see a strong reaction from the civil society in this regard.